Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-02
DAILY HERALD.
FRUIT IN PLENTY.
Wonderful Growth of the
California Trade.
HOW THE MARKET Is SUPPLIED
The Facts and Figures OF
Success-Bright Prospects
Ahead.


cots-one sees them in rich profusion
at almost every street corner through
the city. Great piles of the magnifi-
cent fruit tempt the pesser-by at every
step, and the markets are full of the
produce of every section of the country.
In the winter apples, oranges and
bananas take the place of the summer
fruits, and the great trade goes on.
Where does all this fruit come from
and what are the features of the trade
to-day?
A thousand interesting facts about
the different kinds of fruit, the sources
from which they come, the condition
in which they arrive and the manner
of their distribution to the thousands
of buyers in New York alone are not
generally known to the public which
consumes them.
There is no greater fruit market in
the world than the United States, and
probably no single city buys 80 much
as New York. Americans of all classes
devour fruit in a quantity perfectly as
tonishing to the benighted stranger
who comes here from foreign lands.
THE CALIFORNIA TRADE.
The first great fact to strike any one
interested in the city's fruit trade of
to-day is the immense increase in the
amount of fruit received here from
California. AS late as last year this
fruit did not come here at all, except
in small packages by express from
Chicago. Now the enormous, mag
nificently appearing peaches and pears
are to be found with the domestic
fruit upon every corner stand.
Why this change? Because at the
beginning of the present summer the
fruit growers belonging to the Cali
fornia Fruit Union found that inn
mense quantities of their best fruit
we're rotting upon the trees for lack of
a market. Something had to be done
and that at once. 1t was no longer a
question of getting good prices it was
a question Of selling at any price
rather than submit to the dead loss of
decay. :
Accordingly the California growers
engaged Messrs. Sgobel & Day, the
large fruit importers, as theit agents
in this city, and began sending East a
train consisting of ten car loads Of
fruit every day. All OF these cars did
not come here; some went to Boston,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and other
cities, but two or three car loads have
come regularly during the summer to
New York.
NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS,
All the local firms shook their
heads at the new departure.
"They will soon discover that they
can't compete with the domestic
trade" said one of the home mer-
chants.
But the agents were not discour-
aged. The fruit arrived in good con-
dition except in the middle Of the hot
test July weather, when some of the
peaches and apricots were badly
bruised and rotton. The splendid ap-
pearance of the fruit was another
point in its favor, everybody who
wished to make show upon the din
ner table being sure to purchase it.
The warm climate of California, of
course, enabled the growers to send
their produce to the Eastern market
before the domestic fruits were fairly
ready for distribution.
But the daily through freight trains
were no sooner started than difficulty
was discovered which threatened to
play havoc with the prospective pro-
fits. This was that bugbear to so
many professions, the Interstate Com
merce law. The freight rates under it
were SO large that the necessity for
remedial measures became apparent.
Fortunately for the California trade, a
way was discovered which has con-
tinued to work satisfactorily. The
way is this: The fruit is shipped
from Sacramento to Chicago as freight.
From Chicago to New York 1t is car
ried in the same cars and disturbed in
no way, but it is sent by express mot
as freight. The excessive freight
charges are in this way avoided, and
the freight rates are now only one
third as great as they had been before
this season.
ALL SOLD b AOCIlONs
So far forty-fve carloads of Califor-
MIA fruit have been received here this
summer by the agents of the Union,
and there are all the time more on the
way. 1t takes six days and half for
the Journey overland, and the sending
is arranged so that the fruit may not
arrive on Saturday or Sunday, when
it would have to wait a day or two
before it could be sold.
All the fruit coming from the Union
growers is disposed of at auction, and
the sale usually takes place upon the
day of its arrival here. Like all the
other fruit disposed of at auction, it is
sold through the firm of Brown q
Seccomb, which has a monopoly Of
the trade.
A visit to the salesroom Of this firm
on the corner of Broad and Beaver
streets on q morning when Q big load
of California fruit is up for sale is an
interesting experience. The fruit is
all spread out in boxes before the auc-
tioneer's stand. Before the sale be-
gins the fruit-dealers who have come
to buy 20 about to each box, examin-
ing the condition and quality OF the
fruit. Each separate pear, peach,
ounce or apricot is wrapped up in pa
per and is carefully guarded from
bruising. The packers, however, oc-
casionally make mistakes and put two
different kinds of peaches in the same
lot. The freestones are considered
better than the clings, and the deal
do - - thnvrp ,yniynd
Some of the pears arriving now are in
capital condition for immediate con-
sumption, but are not green enough
to admit of being kept for any length
of time.
THE FAMOUS ToKAY GRAPES.
The Tokay grapes, which are now
beginning to arrive from California,
will continue to come up to the mid
die of October. They are q splendid
fruit. and come to market in time tc